SpaceX is preparing for its next Starship test flight, with the company targeting September 22 for what could be the spacecraft’s first flight into orbit around Earth.
The mission will be Starship’s 14th test flight and is expected to be a major step forward compared with its previous test in July.
During that flight, Starship travelled into space before returning to Earth without completing a full orbit.
This time, SpaceX plans to send Starship into orbit, allowing the company to test the spacecraft during a much longer flight.
The company also plans to deploy the first batch of its Starlink V3 satellites during the mission.
If regulatory approval is granted, the entire flight is expected to last nearly 10 hours.
Starship is expected to travel at an altitude of around 275 kilometres and complete about six orbits around Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
SpaceX also plans to test several important parts of the system, including the booster launch, separation, boostback and splashdown procedures.
The tests are part of SpaceX’s wider plan to develop Starship into a fully reusable orbital launch system.
